Lady Rams capture spring basketball title

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a three-part series looking at the important local sports stories in 2006.

As winter sports began to wind down in early 2006, the Portales Lady Ram basketball team found themselves in a familiar position while the Ram football team found themselves without a coach.

Lady Ram head coach Brenda Gomez continued a Portales girls basketball dynasty, leading her girls to their fourth state championship in six years, dominating top seeded Socorro 58-35.

The Lady Rams compiled a record of 24-6 while winning the District 4-3A championship, but headed into the state tournament with a bad taste in their mouth after being seeded second behind Socorro (29-2).

“Yes, I think we all did (feel disrespected), Gomez said after taking the title.
Senior Lady Ram Morgan Hill (16 points) agreed.

“We were like, ‘Let’s go out there and show ‘em who is No. 1.’ And I think we did,” Hill said.

Just a month before the Lady Rams won their latest state championship, PHS head football coach Glenn Johnson resigned after seven years on the sidelines.
Johnson noted health problems and other personal reasons in his letter of resignation.

In his seven year tenure at Portales, Johnson compiled a record of 38-49, leading the Rams to the Class 3A state championship game in 2002, a loss to Ruidoso.

Upon his arrival from Eastern New Mexico University (Johnson had been the Greyhound’s defensive coordinator) Johnson led the Rams to a record of 3-7 in his first two seasons. But the Rams quickly improved, posting a record of 8-3 in 2000. The Rams went 2-9 in Johnson’s last year with the team.